It took me an extra couple of days over this year-end Holiday Rush, but I finally managed to catch the entirety of Jon Reiss' BOMB IT!, an independently-produced, guerrilla-marketed documentary about the phenomenon of "tagging," "piecing," and grafitti writing all around the globe (US, The Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK, South Africa, Spain, Brazil, and Japan).

Truth be told, I never intended to watch this film -- in fact, I was somehow gently persuaded into forking out a "combo price" for the non-bootlegged DVD when I snatched up my copy of Think Outside of the Box Office, a new title on guerrilla film distribution -- also by Reiss -- a propos to something we're working on in China at moment.

Was I in for a surprise, and to think of all the special features I would have missed! By the second minute of the audio commentary, majordomo-ed by Reiss and Tracy Hanes, his very fetching producer, I had already whipped my Moleskine out and was furiously scrawling notes about aspects we'd like to put into play on our own project, such was the strength of the piece. Stefano E. Bloch, himself a "reformed" tagger, featured masterfully in a bonus section extended interview (positioned in front of a bookcase I'd give an eyetooth to own) waxing staggeringly eloquently about themes like urban gentrification, graffiti murals versus random senseless tagging, gangbanger pieces and sigs, making a living from your gallery fine art, and how all of this comes to a nexus in most large American cities.

Reiss and Hanes, in their own right, describe their own odyssey in the run up to getting the film green lit and "in the can" and about the cascade of tribulations they faced in the various cities they filmed in, sharing with us their experiences of:

• feeling the rush of heading down into São Paolo's sewers in full Hazmat gear to record to graffiti writer Zezao speak about the blissful peace of mind he enjoys painting metres below street level and about the life prospects for one Brazilian family living amidst the gargantuan metropolis' human fecal matter.


• sitting with expatriate Swedes Pike & Nug talk about their "bombing raids" in Berlin's Uenterbahn -- with a funny original clip showing a drunken Nug defacing a pristine German underground station using a basic can of black spray paint.


• befriending some of the veteran Bronx taggers of the "Wild Style" crew (featuring Tkid), and what a quotidian existence was like in the Big Apple before New York tidied itself up, making public defacement of property into a felony offence with a 15-year jail term attached.


• heading out into the São Paolo white night with resident favella graffiti writer Wagner, as he climbs up a towering billboard sans harness to apply his name on the advertisement's fluttering canvas margins.
  

Let's just say I devoted a whole mess of time to this single otherwise unassuming disc...

The takeaways were many, the lulls were few, and I felt completely justified in my purchase. I suspect Jon's book will be equally as engaging, and I'll be back with more insights on my read just as soon as I'm done.

And if I don't speak to you before then, PF 2010 (for my Czech readers) and Happy Holidays and many joyous, healthy returns for my friends, colleagues, and loved ones around the Globe.

(as originally appearing at http://www.adamdanielmezei.com/?p=795)